Martha, your father told me something once, a long time ago, when I first started to work with him: In the war of science, many pe...ople must die before any victory can be won.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »

There were two unpleasant surprises [about Washington]. One was the inertia of Congress, the length of time it takes to get a comp...licated piece of legislation through ... and the other was the irresponsibility of the press.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »

There are always those who are willing to surrender local self-government and turn over their affairs to some national authority i...n exchange for a payment of money out of the Federal Treasury. Whenever they find some abuse needs correction in their neighborhood, instead of applying the remedy themselves they seek to have a tribunal sent on from Washington to discharge their duties for them, regardless of the fact that in accepting such supervision they are bartering away their freedom.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »

... by and large, wife-changing and high office are not compatible. This inequity accounts for the many dull women in Washington a...nd is the cause of much smug complacency on the distaff side of political marriages.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »

Washington will ever be a city for extracurricular romance and undercover trysts, partly because of the high moral standards deman...ded of the politician by his constituency, and also because it is a town where women are more easily tolerated if they dabble with politicians rather than politics.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »

President Kennedy had a wholesome, widely discussed, and largely deserved reputation for his interest in women.... But no Presiden...t, however young and energetic, could possibly have gotten around to all the ladies in Washington, New York, and Hollywood who made claim to his affections after he died.... Such was the force of Jack Kennedy and the manner of his death that anyone associated with him, even the pretenders, assumed added glamour and interest.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »

As the term of my relief from this place [Washington, D.C.] approaches, it's drudgery becomes more nauseating and intolerable, and... my impatience to be with you at Monticello increases daily.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »